The ability to access particular desired information from a distributed network database system of data sources under a variety of different conditions is desirable. However, conventional systems can experience difficulties in accessing and managing the desired data in some situations.
For example, one difficulty in the current art regarding networks of data sources is how to manage data from the data sources, especially from very large data sources or from a very large number of data sources. Networks of data sources present difficulties for data management, as the data sent by large data sources or a potential multitude of data sources can be overwhelming to the network or data management system used.
Also, it is possible that data sources in the network continually provide information that will change or be updated frequently. In these situations where the data may be dynamic, conventional systems often do not provide any mechanism to dynamically account in the query results for data inputs from data sources added (or removed) at any moment to the network of data sources. Further, in some situations where the data may be less dynamic and more static, conventional systems may not provide the flexibility to account for situations with either dynamic data or static data or both.
Additional difficulties in effecting proper or accurate data management can be encountered when the network has low bandwidth or is unreliable (for example due to the amounts of control overhead that may be needed to be sent over the network) or when a data source is not reachable due to temporary malfunction or other reason.
Accordingly, it is seen that a system and methods for providing more efficient, sophisticated, flexible query capabilities or techniques are desirable for useful data management of data source networks under a variety of circumstances.